The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 2 of 4

IMAM ABO AL-FIDA' ISMAciL IBN KATH~R 13
"When they treated us with violence and persecution, besieged us and
prevented us from performing our religion, we left for your country and chose
you above all others. We desired your hospitality and hoped we would not be
harmed in your domain, 0 king."
She (Umm Salama) went on to state, "The Negus replied, 'Did you bring
anything with you from what he brought?'
"Jacfar then recited to him a passage from KHY'S (swat Muyam: XIX) and,
I swear, the Negus wept so hard his beard was soaked! And all his bishops cried
so hard they wet their bibles!
"He then said, 'These words certainly come from the niche that Moses
brought with him! Pass on, rightly guided! No, by God, I will not return them
to you and I will not give you satisfaction.'
"So we did leave his presence. The more sensible of the two envoys, in
our view, was 'Abd Allah b. Rabi'a, for 'Amr b. al-'AS said, 'By God, I will go
to him tomorrow and tell him something that will turn them all upside down:
I will tell him that they claim that the god he worships, Jesus, son of Mary, is
a servant (of God)!' But 'Abd Allah b. Rabi'a told him, 'No, don't do that;
even if they have opposed us, they are related to us and have a certain
right.'
"But he insisted, 'By God, I will do it!'
"The next day he went in to the king and said, '0 king, they say terrible things
about Jesus. Send for them and question them about him.'
"He did indeed do so, and nothing like this had happened to us before. We
asked one another what we should say about Jesus if he were to ask about him.
A11 agreed that we should definitely say about him what God had said and our
Prophet had told us to say.
"The exiles then went in to the king who had his generals with him. He asked,
'What is it you say about Jesus, son of Mary?'
"Ja'far replied, 'We say he is God's servant, His messenger, His spirit and His
word that He cast into Mary, the chaste Virgin.'
"The Negus stretched his hand down to the ground and picked up a stick
between two fingers, saying, 'Jesus, son of Mary is not more than the size of this
little stick different from what you say.'
"His generals grumbled at this and he responded, 'Grumble away, by God!
You people may leave now and you are shuyGm in my land! (The word shuyam
means in their language: those who are secure, i.e. those whose life is safe.)
Whoever reviles you will be fined! (He repeated this phrase three times.) I'd
rather not have dabr than that I harmed one man among you! (Dubr in their
language means: gold.)"'
Ziyad stated, on the authority of Ibn Ishaq, that what he said was, "I'd rather
not have a dabr of gold." Ibn Hishzm stated that others say the word zabr was
used, meaning a mountain in their language.